My Beliefs About Learning February 6, 2010

After reading about the different learning theories I have gained a better insight and appreciation for the different learning theories and their possible application to learning. I use the behaviourist approach when it comes to my reading workshop and the implementing the Daily 5.  There are specific behaviours the students need to complete in order for The Daily 5 to be a success. That means we “train” the students for specific behaviours until it becomes automatic.

I also see myself using an objective approach where I provide the students with an “anchor” before they set sail on the open seas of knowledge. A basic understanding of the material in question I think provides the students with a guiding compass for further travel. This also is applied during the Daily 5 and reading instruction.   With the advancement of technology, it has definitely made it possible for students to get “lost” in their learning and allow for new learning opportunities.  The technology that is available permits us to provide richer and more exciting learning environments.  Connecting and completing projects with classrooms around the world have definitely opened my students’ minds and has made them become more responsible for and active in the learning process.  In the end, I believe there is a place for each theory within the classroom, depending upon the situation and environment.

Choice January 27, 2010

I just read Will Richardson’s blog on “No Choice,” and found it very interesting.  For starters, I’m shocked, but not shocked at the number of hours 8-18 year olds are spending on media.   The New Kaiser Foundation reports, “8-18 year olds devotes an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes to using entertainment media across a typical day.  And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multi-tasking’, they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes worth media content into those 7.5 hours.”  

So back to the “No Choice” theme Will Richardson brings up in his blog post, because technology continues to play an important role in our society, and integrating technology into the schools will help prepare students to succeed, I agree that technology is transforming society, and schools do not have a choice as to whether they will incorporate technology but rather how well we use it to enhance learning.  As educators we are preparing students for jobs that don’t even exist yet.  We are teaching new skills such as media multi-tasking; using two or more types of media at once (a skill I am still trying to learn).  If we don’t teach these, is this a disservice to our students?  Like Will Richardson pointed out, “We may not feel comfortable in a world filled with technology. We may not like the way it’s changing things and, even more, how fast it’s changing things. We may not like the way it pushes against much of what we’ve been doing in schools for eons. But our kids don’t have a choice. And if we’re going to fulfill our roles as teachers in our kids lives, neither do we.”  I think that this is such a powerful statement, because it sums up how important it is to integrate technology in schools.

My Adventure on Second Life Part 2 January 24, 2010

My adventure on Second Life began by meeting my EC&I 832 group at our home base.  Now that I had some experience working with my avatar I found this adventure more worthwhile.   I found trying to control my avatar and not wanting to get lost from the group (thank goodness for teleporting) was at the front of my experience.  I think this feeling kept me from being immersed in the experience of Second Life as I was afraid to move around and explore what was out there. Once I spend more time playing around; I will be more comfortable using Second Life.   However, on the flipside I can see the potential that second life has for educational purposes.

I never realized the potential of Second Life until we were discussing what Second Life has to offer.  Second life feels very immersive because the environment is realistically modeled and I felt that I became an active part of that environment.  When we toured the Exploratorium, and had the chance to look through telescopes, learn about eclipses and watch videos about space, I felt this environment to be very realistic, engaging and a great learning activity.  Our journey continued too many different islands where we got to experience, ancient cities, Shakespeare’s globe theatre, optical illusions and of course why not end the journey at the local Irish pub. 

By experiencing all these different islands, Second Life definitely demonstrates some teaching and learning potential.  Moving throughout ancient cities that allow us to see in three dimensions and seeing these cities as they were once like, to even the more traditional classroom to where you can sit and discuss different topics.  I can see the educational possibilities are numerous and varied.    My question remains, what are the realities of using Second Life as a teaching tool?   That area I would like to still explore and find more information.

On the Deeper Connections Built Into Throw-Away Questions January 20, 2010

As we try to push our students to strive for deeper level questioning and building deeper level connections, maybe we do need to step back and look at those simplistic “throw away questions” to engage our students to strive for that deeper level of blooms taxonomy.  That is why I enjoyed reading this blog post by Faire Alchemist. 

          I too, had and have moments in my classroom where a simple question turned into a deeper connection for my students.  Maybe my grade 3 students are not using twitter or delicious accounts to develop those connections, however google has found its’ way in my classroom and seems to be a permanent screen on my smartboard.  We are studying about the solar system and such simple questions about the topic have turned into great debates or have had the students start to deepen their questioning skills (especially over the dwarf planet Pluto).  In the process of searching for the answer, I find we forget where we even started from and in the mean time have learned so much more. Thanx Google!!!!

I definitely agree with the following quote from the article, “For we are living in an age in which questions themselves — questions of all varieties and supposed levels — are capable of tapping into links far beyond whatever our initial thought or intention of the question originally was.”  I find this happening in my classroom, and now that we have the technology at our finger tips, we can easily search and find the answers quickly.  I often wonder what I would do, if google was not available!!!

Second Life Experience Part 1 January 19, 2010

Today I experienced second life for the second time in my life. The first time I tried it, I remember it being very frustrating to move around and to keep up with everyone.  However, I do admit this time around, it found it was easier to move around, and I even figured out how to get rid of my “rum & coke” I was drinking…. hopefully I will be able to dig it out again someday.

                I think second life could bring a lot of opportunities to students.  I am excited to see what opportunities I will get to see during my experience this coming Thursday.  Now that I have figured out how to navigate and to fly properly, maybe this time around I won’t end up in some ocean waiting for someone to rescue me.  As Marnie said throughout our conversation tonight, it took her an hour every night to get comfortable and I can definitely see why you need to have that dedication. I am excited to explore and learn more about this tool and ways you can incorporate it in the classroom.

The Song Remains the Same: Looking Back to the Furture of Educational Technology January 16, 2010

I enjoyed reading this article, and the attempt it made to acknowledge the power of technology and the use of it in education.  From the example this article explored (moon simulation), shows the many different ways that ICT can be used to stimulate the imagination of students, help them make meaning, and evaluate the outcomes. What resonated with me was the quote, “… the call to educators is the same—adapted to meet the needs of our rapidly changing technology” (p.1).  Like the article had mentioned it’s about developing  the teachers ICT competence.  The use of ICT for creative teaching, learning challenges a person’s computer technological skills and ways to integrate these skills into delivery to the students.  I think we play such an important role in designing and planning stimulating environments that offer a variety of experiences.

Choosing and knowing the correct ICT products can also be a struggle.  I found a great blog called iLearn Technology that provides many new and intriguing open source tools for the classroom.  But as I learned, it takes many hours out of my day to learn how to use these new tools.  However the investment of my time to learning these new technologies I believe has definitely made an impact in my classroom in regards to engagement. 

Another quote that resonated with me was, “technology is always changing and jumping from one ‘revolutionary’ invention to the next, then, in time it takes to learn how to use that technology, it has already become obsolete” (pg.2).  Our school purchased a smart board for each grade level and now we have begun the journey of how to incorporate this new technology in the classroom.  A smart board has so many options that it has definitely taken a long time to learn how to use it and how to use it effectively.  I agree that it’s not about “chasing” the new technology but, “developing strategies and approaches that are flexible and context sensitive, that we can best serve our students” (pg. 3).

Final Reflection April 14, 2008

As ECI 831 comes to an end I would like to take this time to reflect upon my own personal journey through this class. 

Learning is definately a life long-long journey, it never ends.  I thought I was up to date with the latest technology, but when Alec first posted the top 100 Web 2.0 tools, I knew about 15.  Now when I go back to that website, I still don’t know all but I know and I am aware of double of what I new before.

This course has given my the opportunity to present not just powerpoints to my class but to have my own students start to experiment with the new technologies.  The simple tool voicethread, was a great start with my grade 2 students.  It is a very useful tool that can be used in so many different ways.  My students now get to express themselves and share their work to a whole new audience. 

The networks that I have made, I think has been the biggest impact on my teaching and where I want to go.  Now I don’t have to learn something new on my own. I have built a network that is willing to help and share their conversations.  We are here to meet the needs of our students and we all want to make a positive impact on them, so why not embrace these new technologies together.  Today, for the first time I connected with a school in Moose Jaw, using yackpack.  Again, another very simple tool that will definately  have its benefits further along in my journey. 

I believe Alec mentioned that our learning is affecting others by what we are doing.  I think it has shown to others the possibilities that are out there.  I know when I first started my classroom blog, I had some hestitant parents, but now I have seen some of them actually create their own blogs

In the end, even though this course may be over per say, I hope the networks and the conversations continue. I thank everyone who helped make this class a wonderful experience!!!!!

Digital Project Update March 31, 2008

Now that school is back in session, I was able to tie up some loose ends.

My kids and I just finished our Dinosaur unit.  We concluded with a voicethread project where the students shared one thing they learned. 

 http://voicethread.com/share/71911/

We also finished our biography reports. Each student chose a person to write about. Here are a couple examples:

http://voicethread.com/share/94337/

We also added voki to our classroom blog. Check out our classroom blog to see it

 During the month of March we participated in a collaborative project from JenuineTech. We graphed Lucky Charms to see which marshmallow had the most. 

                                                      

Our hypothesis of there being more CLOVERS was proven INCORRECT.
There were more Shooting Stars than any other shape.

We have also now joined the collaborative project called Voices of the World. We can’t wait to find out what we will be doing in April.  The only clue we were given was something about colours.

The university students have done a great job adding comments to my students. Most have them has also decided to stay on until the end of the school year

One of my students created her own voki about Earth Hour.  You can check her voki at: http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=162331&blog_id=574826&position2=7

New Type of Career Fair March 28, 2008

I recently came across this article in the online ED week magazine.  The Kansas Education Employment  board used Second Life to conduct a virtual career fair.  About nine people particiapted in this fair. They have yet to say how successful it was, but left this video on how they conducted it.  Will this be our future?

Science Leadership Academy March 26, 2008

Chris Lehman, a principal at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia presented to our EC&I 831 course last night.  He was a very insightful and optimistic person who tries to inspire others about the use of technology in the classroom. 

 His school is a great model to others by showing how technology allows us to think differently and these new tools can have a bigger impact on student learning.  SLA has a a strong mission:

“How do we learn?“
“What can we create?“
“What does it mean to lead?“

and what makes them successful is that they stick to it. I liked how the involvement with parents is a crucial part by providing them with the broadcasting of daily announcements, workshops and training.  Throughout out the EC&I 831 course, we have heard many times before that education  to parents, teachers and students about the Internet and the use of open source tools is key.